An Irish mother who went to Mexico to spend Christmas with family became too weak to return home after being diagnosed with stage 4 cancer shortly after arriving.
When Julia McAndrew from Oranmore, Co Galway landed in Mexico she quickly fell ill and over the past six months her condition declined to where she is now too ill to travel back to Ireland.
Unfortunately Julia’s medical treatment has had to be sourced privately as medical insurance does not cover the cost of any treatment, leaving her facing bills of €34,000 per month.
Julia and her daughter Eliska had flown out to spend Christmas with her son Patrick, who had relocated to work in Mexico.
Almost immediately on arrival her health began to decline rapidly and a wheelchair was needed for her to disembark from the plane. She was initially diagnosed with anaemia and kidney failure and underwent various treatments, including blood transfusions that appeared to be working.
But four weeks ago, medics discovered that what she had Stage 4 breast cancer. Julia had cancer a decade ago and overcame it to find herself cancer free.
Over the last six months she lost 24lbs and is very weak. While it is difficult to be so far from home she currently has access to great treatment facilities in Mexico but she needs help to meet her medical expenses.
The cost of the treatment is $40,000 (€33,000 ) a month. Her family are hoping to build up her strength enough to endure the long flight home to Ireland but they also need help to build funds to keep treating Julia.
They have launched a GoFundMe campaign to raise €280,000 which will help pay for her treatment, which at the time of writing stands at €60,000 but much more is needed.
To help Julia you can make a donation on her gofundme page at: www.gofundme.com/f/support-julias-stage-4-cancer-treatment
